leftybegone:

EVERYBODY REBLOG THIS AND TAG WITH “INDEPENDENT” AND “MODERATE” (AND THE PLURAL VERSIONS OF THOSE WORDS AS WELL).

In order to get Obamacare passed, the Democrats touted the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office’s estimate for the price tag of the law: “only” $938 billion over the first ten years.

As the government never fails to do, however, it failed to correctly estimate the cost. Government estimates are always, as a rule, underestimated. The new price tag of Obamacare, according to the same, non-partisan CBO: $1.930 trillion.

Do you know how much one trillion of something is? Well, first let’s look at how much one billion is:

If you counted off one dollar per second until you reached $1 billion, it would take you 31 years. And that’s just one billion. The federal government spends twenty times that amount in only one single day.

So how long would it take to count off one dollar per second until you reached $1 trillion? 31,688 years. And that’s just one trillion. Obama intends for the federal government to spend almost double that on Obamacare alone in only ten years.  This comes to $528,767,123—more than half a billion dollars—per freaking day over the next ten years.

The 2010 census shows there are just over 46 million people below the poverty line. For the same price tag of Obamacare, the federal government could pay each of those 46 million people $344 per month for ten years.

On top of this mind-blowing government inefficiency, the CBO tells us that Obamacare leaves 30 million people uninsured. Well what in the crap?! Obama and the Democrats said that there are 30 million people in America without health insurance, and yet the CBO says it will leave that same amount uninsured. Obamacare now does nothing but spend money without increasing coverage!

If Obama wanted to solve the problem that Obamacare is “supposed” to solve—that is, giving everybody health insurance—then the government could spend the same amount that Obamacare costs ($1.930 trillion) in order to give those 30 million uninsured people $528 per month. Then they could buy whatever health insurance they wanted without it being controlled by the government! And it wouldn’t leave 30 million uninsured if you did it that way.

This shows us that Obamacare is not about health insurance at all, but about control of our lives. “Once you control people’s health care, you have them in your back pocket.”

I can’t defend this. I have no words.

I stood by Obamacare and it’s flaws. But this flaw is too big to either be completely true or to stand by any longer. Obama has some splainin to do. Bejeesus. I stand by Obama, especially on his stand for all the social issues, but honestly… This changes things.

I will NEVER vote for Romney’s impossible plan or his war on women or LGBT or the poor. I don’t care HOW the right plans on fixing the economy, I will never actively vote for oppression.

Can someone tell me this republican is lying?

EDIT: Read this. And follow him. I had my panic attack prematurely.

leftybegone:

“It’s unfair that people with pre-existing conditions should have to pay their medical bills.”

1) Life isn’t fair. Suck it up. And vote Republican to truly fix health-care problems.

2) If it’s not fair for them to pay for their own bills, it’s doubly unfair that Ipay for their bills.

I can’t deal with these illogical idiots anymore. It’s a weakness of mine today, but there it is.

I don’t think the argument is that it’s unfair they have to pay their medical bills. I think the argument is that it’s unfair they don’t have equal access to health insurance. i.e. they can’t afford to pay their medical bills, so instead they use the E.R more frequently, but of course they can’t afford that cost either ergo YOU ARE ALREADY PAYING FOR THEIR MEDICAL BILLS. I went to the E.R uninsured. $2000. I couldn’t afford to pay that. I’m sure the hospital got the money someway though, otherwise they’d all be broke. 

stfuconservatives:

What exactly is Obamacare and what does it change?

abaldwin360:

big thanks to reddit user CaspianX2 for typing all this out!

What people call “Obamacare” is actually the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. However, people were calling it “Obamacare” before everyone even hammered out what it would be. It’s a term mostly used by people who don’t like the PPaACA, and it’s become popularized in part because PPaACA is a really long and awkward name, even when you turn it into an acronym like that.

Anyway, the PPaACA made a bunch of new rules regarding health care, with the purpose of making health care more affordable for everyone. Opponents of the PPaACA, on the other hand, feel that the rules it makes take away too many freedoms and force people (both individuals and businesses) to do things they shouldn’t have to.

So what does it do? Well, here is everything, in the order of when it goes into effect (because some of it happens later than other parts of it):

Already in effect:

• It allows the Food and Drug Administration to approve more generic drugs (making for more competition in the market to drive down prices)

• It increases the rebates on drugs people get through Medicare (so drugs cost less)

• It establishes a non-profit group, that the government doesn’t directly control, to study different kinds of treatments to see what works better and is the best use of money.

• It makes chain restaurants like McDonalds display how many calories are in all of their foods, so people can have an easier time making choices to eat healthy.

• It makes a “high-risk pool” for people with pre-existing conditions. Basically, this is a way to slowly ease into getting rid of “pre-existing conditions” altogether. For now, people who already have health issues that would be considered “pre-existing conditions” can still get insurance, but at different rates than people without them.

• It renews some old policies, and calls for the appointment of various positions.

• It creates a new 10% tax on indoor tanning booths.

• It says that health insurance companies can no longer tell customers that they won’t get any more coverage because they have hit a “lifetime limit”. Basically, if someone has paid for life insurance, that company can’t tell that person that he’s used that insurance too much throughout his life so they won’t cover him any more. They can’t do this for lifetime spending, and they’re limited in how much they can do this for yearly spending.

• Kids can continue to be covered by their parents’ health insurance until they’re 26.

• No more “pre-existing conditions” for kids under the age of 19.

• Insurers have less ability to change the amount customers have to pay for their plans.

• People in a “Medicare Gap” get a rebate to make up for the extra money they would otherwise have to spend.

• Insurers can’t just drop customers once they get sick.

• Insurers have to tell customers what they’re spending money on. (Instead of just “administrative fee”, they have to be more specific).

• Insurers need to have an appeals process for when they turn down a claim, so customers have some manner of recourse other than a lawsuit when they’re turned down.

• New ways to stop fraud are created.

• Medicare extends to smaller hospitals.

• Medicare patients with chronic illnesses must be monitored more thoroughly.

• Reduces the costs for some companies that handle benefits for the elderly.

• A new website is made to give people insurance and health information.

• A credit program is made that will make it easier for business to invest in new ways to treat illness.

• A limit is placed on just how much of a percentage of the money an insurer makes can be profit, to make sure they’re not price-gouging customers.

• A limit is placed on what type of insurance accounts can be used to pay for over-the-counter drugs without a prescription. Basically, your insurer isn’t paying for the Aspirin you bought for that hangover.

• Employers need to list the benefits they provided to employees on their tax forms.

8/1/2012

• Any health plans sold after this date must provide preventative care (mammograms, colonoscopies, etc.) without requiring any sort of co-pay or charge.

1/1/2013

• If you make over $200,000 a year, your taxes go up a tiny bit (0.9%)

1/1/2014

This is when a lot of the really big changes happen.

• No more “pre-existing conditions”. At all. People will be charged the same regardless of their medical history.

• If you can afford insurance but do not get it, you will be charged a fee. This is the “mandate” that people are talking about. Basically, it’s a trade-off for the “pre-existing conditions” bit, saying that since insurers now have to cover you regardless of what you have, you can’t just wait to buy insurance until you get sick. Otherwise no one would buy insurance until they needed it. You can opt not to get insurance, but you’ll have to pay the fee instead, unless of course you’re not buying insurance because you just can’t afford it.

• Insurer’s now can’t do annual spending caps. Their customers can get as much health care in a given year as they need.

• Make it so more poor people can get Medicare by making the low-income cut-off higher.

• Small businesses get some tax credits for two years.

• Businesses with over 50 employees must offer health insurance to full-time employees, or pay a penalty.

• Limits how high of an annual deductible insurers can charge customers.

• Cut some Medicare spending

• Place a $2500 limit on tax-free spending on FSAs (accounts for medical spending). Basically, people using these accounts now have to pay taxes on any money over $2500 they put into them.

• Establish health insurance exchanges and rebates for the lower-class, basically making it so poor people can get some medical coverage.

• Congress and Congressional staff will only be offered the same insurance offered to people in the insurance exchanges, rather than Federal Insurance. Basically, we won’t be footing their health care bills any more than any other American citizen.

• A new tax on pharmaceutical companies.

• A new tax on the purchase of medical devices.

• A new tax on insurance companies based on their market share. Basically, the more of the market they control, the more they’ll get taxed.

• The amount you can deduct from your taxes for medical expenses increases.

1/1/2015

• Doctors’ pay will be determined by the quality of their care, not how many people they treat.

1/1/2017

• If any state can come up with their own plan, one which gives citizens the same level of care at the same price as the PPaACA, they can ask the Secretary of Health and Human Resources for permission to do their plan instead of the PPaACA. So if they can get the same results without, say, the mandate, they can be allowed to do so. Vermont, for example, has expressed a desire to just go straight to single-payer (in simple terms, everyone is covered, and medical expenses are paid by taxpayers).

2018

• All health care plans must now cover preventative care (not just the new ones).

• A new tax on “Cadillac” health care plans (more expensive plans for rich people who want fancier coverage).

2020

• The elimination of the “Medicare gap”

.

Aaaaand that’s it right there.

The biggest thing opponents of the bill have against it is the mandate. They claim that it forces people to buy insurance, and forcing people to buy something in unconstitutional. Personally, I take the opposite view, as it’s not telling people to buy a specific thing, just to have a specific type of thing, just like a part of the money we pay in taxes pays for the police and firemen who protect us, this would have us paying to ensure doctors can treat us for illness and injury.

Plus, as previously mentioned, it’s necessary if you’re doing away with “pre-existing conditions” because otherwise no one would get insurance until they needed to use it, which defeats the purpose of insurance.

Read it. Read all of it.